II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3901 

To provide employees with a minimum of 2 consecutive hours of paid leave 

in order to vote in Federal elections. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2024 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. BUTLER, Mr. CASEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KAINE, 

Mr. PADILLA, Mr. REED, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide employees with a minimum of 2 consecutive hours 

of paid leave in order to vote in Federal elections. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Time Off to Vote Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR 2 HOURS PAID LEAVE TO VOTE 

6 IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

7 (a) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE LEAVE.—Upon the 

8 request of an employee, an employer shall provide to the 

9 employee a minimum of 2 consecutive hours of paid leave 


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•S 3901 IS

1 on a day of any Federal election, while polls are open, in 

2 order to vote, return in person a ballot that was received 

3 in the mail, or perform other voting-related activity. 

4 (b) EMPLOYER RIGHT TO DETERMINE TWO-HOUR

5 PERIOD.—For each employee taking leave under sub6 section (a), the employer of such employee may specify 

7 the hours during which the employee may take such leave, 

8 including by requiring that the employee take the leave 

9 during a period designated for early voting instead of on 

10 the day of the election, as applicable under State law. Any 

11 lunch break or other break period may not be included 

12 in the 2-hour period designated for leave, but may be 

13 taken consecutively with the 2-hour period described in 

14 subsection (a). 

15 (c) NO LOSS OF BENEFITS.—The taking of leave 

16 under this section shall not result in the loss of any em17 ployment benefit accrued prior to the date on which the 

18 leave was taken. 

19 (d) PROHIBITED ACTS.— 

20 (1) INTERFERENCE WITH RIGHTS UNDER THIS

21 ACT.—It shall be unlawful for any employer to inter22 fere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the at23 tempt to exercise, the right to take leave under this 

24 Act, or to discriminate against an employee in any 

25 manner for taking leave under this Act. 


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1 (2) RETALIATION.—It shall be unlawful for any 

2 employer to discharge or in any other manner dis3 criminate against any individual for— 

4 (A) opposing any practice made unlawful 

5 by this section; 

6 (B) filing any charge, or instituting or 

7 causing to be instituted any proceeding, under 

8 or related to this section; 

9 (C) giving or preparing to give any infor10 mation in connection with any inquiry or pro11 ceeding relating to any leave provided under 

12 this section; or 

13 (D) testifying or preparing to testify in 

14 any inquiry or proceeding relating to any leave 

15 provided under this section. 

16 (e) INVESTIGATIVE AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 

17 Labor shall have investigative authority with respect to the 

18 provisions of this section in the same manner and under 

19 the same terms and conditions as the investigative author20 ity provided under section 106 of the Family and Medical 

21 Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2616), and the require22 ments of section 106 of such Act shall apply to employers 

23 under this section in the same manner as such require24 ments apply to employers under section 106 of such Act. 

25 (f) ENFORCEMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any employer that violates 

2 this Act may be subject to a civil penalty not to ex3 ceed $10,000 per violation. Civil penalties shall be 

4 assessed by and paid to the Secretary of Labor for 

5 deposit into the Treasury of the United States and 

6 shall accrue to the United States and may be recov7 ered in a civil action in the name of the United 

8 States brought in the United States district court 

9 for the district where the violation is alleged to have 

10 occurred or where the employer has its principal of11 fice. 

12 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In assessing a civil pen13 alty under this Act, the Secretary shall give due con14 sideration to the appropriateness of the penalty with 

15 respect to the size of the business of the employer 

16 being charged, the gravity of the violation, the good 

17 faith of the employer, and the history of previous 

18 violations. 

19 (g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘employee’’ has the meaning 

21 given such term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 

22 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 

23 (2) The term ‘‘employer’’ means any person en24 gaged in commerce or in any industry or activity af25 fecting commerce who employs 25 or more employVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3901.IS S3901

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1 ees during a calendar year, and includes any person 

2 who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an 

3 employer to any of the employees of such employer 

4 and any successor in interest of an employer. In the 

5 previous sentence, the terms ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘in6 dustry or activity affecting commerce’’ have the 

7 meaning given such terms in section 101(1) of the 

8 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. 

9 (h) STATE AND LOCAL LAWS.—Nothing in this Act 

10 shall be construed to supersede any provision of any State 

11 or local law that requires an employer to provide leave to 

12 an employee, for the purpose of voting in any Federal, 

13 State, or municipal election, in an amount greater than 

14 that required under this Act, or under terms more bene15 ficial to an employee than those provided under this Act. 

16 (i) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

17 beginning with the first Federal election held after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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